During the past two weeks, HiMolde students Jasetha Pushparajah, Jan Sindre Heltne and Brit Flemmen Berg have been welcome hosts. They have picked up over 150 new students at Molde Aiport Årø and other places.

By ELMIRA TUKAEVA and ARTUR KAMALITDINOV (photo)

The nice welcoming gesture of meeting new students, along with the new logo with 60+ languages represented at the university, is a result of new project by SiMolde. This year over 1000 students, both Norwegian and international, from bachelor’s and master’s programs, were offered to be picked up and escorted to their new living places in Molde.

“We’ve came up with this idea a few years ago, but finally made it happen this year!” says Eva-Merete Otterlei Børstad, the student councellor at SiMolde.

“It’s quite popular procedure in other cities, and we were not quite sure if it was really needed for a small town as Molde. One of the biggest motivations was a positive experience and feedback shared by other higher institutions and universities in Norway. Our goal was to show a personal touch and give a warm welcome to everyone,” adds Børstad.

The welcome Hosts have made a tremendous job. They called all new Norwegian students and offered them a welcoming service. Arrival times of international students have been collected electronically. Thus, every new student has been given a chance to be met and taken care of from sunrise till sunset, at the airport and harbor, bus station and other arrival destinations, and escorted to the campus and other living places in Molde.

“It was an excellent reception! I had no idea about where the campus is, which bus to take, but Brit was there, although it was 11 PM and it was absolutely fantastic!”, says Stephen Kwasi of Ghana, a first year master’s student on the petroleum logistics program.